Where’s Special Assistant Brunessa Drayton?

The phones of SPOTLIGHT South Cobb News lit up this week as call after call came in to report that Brunessa E. Drayton has left the building and exited County Government. 

Many may not know the name but Drayton served in the capacity of Chief Assistant to Cobb Chair Lisa Cupid and has been in this role since Cupid took office in January 2022. By all accounts Drayton has been the brains of the operations, keeping everything moving as Cupid spends her time elsewhere. Her colleagues in the Cobb government say Drayton was doing a great job and fulfilling her role exceptionally. We checked the Cobb government site and Drayton’s name, email, and phone number are still listed as the support person to the Chair, which some say may be an innocent failure to update the site or a deliberate attempt not to draw attention to the fact that Drayton is gone. 

We are continuing to gather details as they unfold, but allegedly Drayton came into the office this week and submitted her two weeks notice to Cupid. Prickly as she is, Cupid allegedly directed Drayton to leave her office now, thus bypassing Drayton’s two-week notice and the support she is supposed to provide to constituents on Cupid’s behalf. This is extra concerning because Cupid’s other assistant is reportedly on medical leave. It is alleged that she suffered a medical emergency while at work, had to be taken to the hospital, and has remained on medical leave.

With both assistants out, one due to medical leave and the other shown the door early by Cupid, callers to Spotlight asked who is in place to deal with constituent issues? They alleged that Cupid does not like to get her hands dirty with this type of work, dealing with citizen issues. 

For her part, many believe that Drayton, who holds a Master in Public Administration and is bilingual, will land on her feet in some other role that will put her skill sets and strong work ethic to good use. 

Many we talked to say they are surprised Drayton lasted this long with Cupid as they pointed to the prior list of assistants that were shown the door by Cupid. Citizens in other parts of Cobb may not have paid attention to Cupid in her role as commissioner for South Cobb, but we did. Cupid went through administrative support staff like someone going through a box of kleenex during flu season, quick, fast, and in a hurry. 

As for Cupid, who knows how she will fill this key role and keep the government working. The biggest losers in all of this are Cobb citizens who will continue to have their calls unanswered and meeting requests circling around the Cobb government building.